Despite legal developments that arguably make Americans more free from government censorship than they ever have been before, fewer Americans actually feel empowered to speak their minds. Why? Because, thanks to the toxic combination of online shaming and politicized corporate cultures, all too many people reasonably believe they could lose their livelihoods if they share their opinions in public.

Corporate activism and corporate power combine to achieve results that government cannot. American freedom suffers. We lose a culture that respects liberty even as the law remains (for now) intact.